Santa Cruz police Detective Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker, who was shot to death Feb. 26, 2013, by a sexual-assault suspect.

Photo: Santa Cruz Police

Santa Cruz police Detective Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker, who was shot...

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Detective Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker, right, with his son, Adam, when Adam joined the Santa Cruz Police as a Community Service Officer in September of 2010. Loran Baker was shot to death by a sexual-assault suspect Feb. 26, 2013.

Candles and flowers commemorate Detective Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler at a community vigil in Santa Cruz the day after they were gunned down.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Candles and flowers commemorate Detective Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker...

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Residents gather to view a memorial arranged at a community vigil in Santa Cruz, Calif. on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, for the two police detectives that were killed in the line of duty on Tuesday.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Residents gather to view a memorial arranged at a community vigil...

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Maria Choy writes a personal message of support to the police department at a community vigil in Santa Cruz, Calif. on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, after two police detectives were killed in the line of duty on Tuesday.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Maria Choy writes a personal message of support to the police...

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Police Chief Kevin Vogel holds photos of Det. Elizabeth Butler and Sgt. Loran Baker in Santa Cruz, Calif. on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, one day after the two police officers were gunned down by Jeremy Peter Goulet, who was later shot and killed by other officers responding to the shooting.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Police Chief Kevin Vogel holds photos of Det. Elizabeth Butler and...

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Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel is joined by other law enforcement officials at a news conference about the fatal shootings of two Santa Cruz police detectives on Tuesday.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel is joined by other law...

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Santa Cruz police Detective Elizabeth Butler, who was shot to death Feb. 26, 2013, by a sexual-assault suspect.

Several police agencies investigated a crime scene near Doyle Street and N. Branciforte Avenue in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Tuesday night, February 26, 2013, after an officer involved shooting left two Santa Cruz police officers and a suspect dead near the intersection.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Several police agencies investigated a crime scene near Doyle...

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Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel speaks to the media and identifies the two SCPD officers killed in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Tuesday, February 26, 2013, after an officer involved shooting left two the two police officers and a suspect dead near the intersection of Doyle Street and N. Branciforte Ave.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel speaks to the media and...

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An investigator (unclear which agency) speaks on the phone on N. Branciforte Avenue in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Tuesday night, February 26, 2013, after an officer involved shooting left two Santa Cruz police officers and a suspect dead near the intersection of Doyle Street and N. Branciforte Ave.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

An investigator (unclear which agency) speaks on the phone on N....

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A police officer secures the shooting scene near N. Branciforte Avenue and Doyle Street Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 in Santa Cruz, Calif., where two Santa Cruz Police Detectives were shot and killed. The officers were killed while investigating a sexual assault, and a suspect was also fatally shot, authorities said. (AP Photo/Thomas Mendoza)

Photo: Thomas Mendoza, Associated Press

A police officer secures the shooting scene near N. Branciforte...

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A California Highway Patrol officer carries his rifle near the shooting scene in Santa Cruz, Calif., where two Santa Cruz Police detectives were shot and killed Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The shooting in the community about 60 miles south of San Francisco took place as police were investigating a report of a sexual assault, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak said. A suspect was shot while police were in pursuit of the shooter, the sheriff said. Authorities said that person also died. (AP Photos/Santa Cruz Sentinel, Dan Coyro)

Photo: Dan Coyro, Associated Press

A California Highway Patrol officer carries his rifle near the...

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Police Chief Kevin Vogel describes how his department is coping with the death of two police detectives in Santa Cruz, Calif. on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, one day after they were gunned down by Jeremy Peter Goulet, who was later shot and killed by other officers responding to the shooting.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Police Chief Kevin Vogel describes how his department is coping...

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Santa Cruz County District Attorney Bob Lee confers with members of the Sheriff's Department near the shooting scene in Santa Cruz, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Two Santa Cruz police officers were shot and killed Tuesday while investigating a sexual assault, and a suspect was also fatally shot, authorities said. (AP Photo/The Santa Cruz Sentinel, Dan Coyro)

Photo: Dan Coyro, Associated Press

Santa Cruz County District Attorney Bob Lee confers with members...

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Jeremy Peter Goulet in 2008.

Jeremy Peter Goulet in 2008.

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Police secure the scene near N. Branciforte Avenue and Doyle Street in Santa Cruz, Calif., where two Santa Cruz Police Detectives were shot and killed Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The officers were killed while investigating a sexual assault, and a suspect was also fatally shot, authorities said. (AP Photo/Thomas Mendoza)

Children leave messages of condolence at a community vigil in Santa Cruz, Calif. on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, for the two police detectives that were killed in the line of duty on Tuesday.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Children leave messages of condolence at a community vigil in Santa...

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Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Deputy member of the SWAT team gears up to enter the shooting scene Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 where two Santa Cruz Police detectives were shot and killed. The shooting in the community about 60 miles south of San Francisco took place as police were investigating a report of a sexual assault, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak said. A suspect was shot while police were in pursuit of the shooter, the sheriff said. Authorities said that person also died. (AP Photos/Santa Cruz Sentinel, Dan Coyro)

Photo: Dan Coyro, Associated Press

Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Deputy member of the SWAT team gears up...

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Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Deputies prepare to join officers from other agencies in securing the shooting scene near N. Branciforte Avenue and Doyle Street Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 in Santa Cruz, Calif., where two Santa Cruz Police Detectives were shot and killed. The shooting in the community about 60 miles south of San Francisco took place as police were investigating a report of a sexual assault, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak said. A suspect was shot while police were in pursuit of the shooter, the sheriff said. Authorities said that person also died. (AP Photos/Santa Cruz Sentinel, Dan Coyro)

Photo: Dan Coyro, Associated Press

Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Deputies prepare to join officers from...

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A California Highway Patrol officer loads an ammunition clip into his rifle near the shooting scene in Santa Cruz, Calif., where two Santa Cruz Police detectives were shot and killed Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The shooting in the community about 60 miles south of San Francisco took place as police were investigating a report of a sexual assault, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak said. A suspect was shot while police were in pursuit of the shooter, the sheriff said. Authorities said that person also died. (AP Photos/Santa Cruz Sentinel, Dan Coyro)

The man suspected of killing two police officers who knocked on his door in Santa Cruz was a high school honor student, won medals as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot in the Army and struck his former boss at an Oakland cafe as a "perfectly fine worker."

But Jeremy Peter Goulet, 35, who was fatally shot by other officers to end Tuesday's mayhem, also had a long record of criminal voyeurism, including a conviction for peeping through a window in Berkeley in August.

These incidents stained his military career, records show, put him in jail in Oregon and prompted the boyfriend of one victim to bite off a chunk of his ear. They also brought Santa Cruz police to his doorstep.

Authorities said Wednesday that a new allegation of sexual assault had drawn the plainclothes officers - Detective Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler - to Goulet's home on North Branciforte Avenue, a mile northeast of downtown Santa Cruz.

But the assault was considered a misdemeanor, authorities said, and the officers did not know the danger they faced.

Goulet - who was so adamant about not being labeled a sex offender that he once went to jail rather than undergo therapy - had told others he was distraught and planned to hurt people, but Baker and Butler didn't know that, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak said.

Took officers' guns

Goulet shot the officers at his doorstep at 3:30 p.m., the sheriff said, then took both their service pistols and stole Baker's car. Trapped by officers descending on the neighborhood, Goulet abandoned the car and headed back toward the original scene, where paramedics were attending to Baker and Butler.

Officers ordered Goulet to surrender, but he fled, Wowak said. He was cornered as he tried to return to the car on Doyle Street, two blocks away.

Goulet, wearing body armor that he may have taken from Baker's car, opened fire with at least one of the three handguns he was carrying, Wowak said, prompting officers to return fire and kill him.

Goulet's father, Ronald Goulet of Rosamond (Kern County), said he understood that police had wanted to talk to his son about allegedly breaking into the home of a co-worker at a cafe where he worked as a barista and making inappropriate advances.

The incident apparently happened sometime since early Friday, when Jeremy Goulet was arrested at his home on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly. He was held for about seven hours before posting $250 bail, records show.

'We're a little tense'

Although the sheriff said Baker and Butler were unaware of Goulet's alleged threats, there are indications the officers felt some unease. A neighbor of Goulet's, 65-year-old Jesse Lemic, said that Tuesday he had run into Baker and Butler, who asked him about a neighbor named Jeremy who wasn't answering his door.

"The male officer shook my hand and said, 'You can understand why we're a little tense,' " Lemic said. "They let me go, and I walked around the corner to my place. Five minutes later I hear, 'Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!' I thought they were taking out the bad guy, but it was the other way around."

Wowak said police were looking into how Goulet had acquired the gun he used to kill the officers, though there doesn't appear to be anything in his background - such as felony convictions or restraining orders - that would have precluded him from buying one.

"We have investigators going deep into the background of Mr. Goulet," Wowak said.

Grew up in desert

Goulet was an honor student in middle and high school in Rosamond, a dusty community of 18,000 in the Mojave Desert where his father was stationed in the Air Force.

His mother taught kindergarten on the same grounds as the now-closed Hamilton Junior High School at the time Goulet and his twin brother, Jeffery, attended.

"The twins were good kids," said their former science teacher, Sue Roxstrom. "They were articulate, excelled in their studies and were pretty equal in their talents. ... I can't imagine what could have gone wrong for Jeremy."

Jeremy Goulet graduated from San Diego State University in 2000 with a degree in criminal justice, said Beth Chee, a spokeswoman for the university.

He was a Marine Corps reservist from June 1996 to June 2002, records show, serving as a military police officer and a helicopter mechanic trainee. While he was stationed at Air Station Miramar (San Diego County) in 1998, he enrolled in an officer training program, but was dismissed from the class in December 2000.

A Marine spokeswoman declined to say why Goulet was dismissed. However, records show he was cited earlier that year in San Diego for peeping, and a source familiar with the episode said the basis for the dismissal involved allegations of a sexual nature.

Flew helicopters in Army

Goulet went on to be a Black Hawk helicopter pilot in the Army from January 2004 to February 2007, records show. His awards included an Army Achievement Medal and a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Soon after Goulet left the service, however, he again got into trouble for peeping. This time it was in Portland, Ore., where he was convicted in 2008 of spying on a 22-year-old neighbor as she showered in her condominium.

The woman's boyfriend caught him outside the building, and when he saw Goulet again a few days later, the men got into a ferocious fight in which Goulet allegedly fired a shot and had the top of his left ear bitten off.

The four felony charges Goulet faced included attempted murder, but a jury concluded he had not intentionally fired the gun and convicted him of two misdemeanors - invasion of privacy and carrying a concealed firearm. As a result, he remained eligible to own firearms.

He was given probation and ordered to undergo sex-offender treatment. But he refused to participate, instead accepting the maximum jail sentence of two years.

"He did not want to be labeled as a sex offender," said his attorney in the case, Kami White.

Goulet admitted at his trial that he liked to take pictures of unsuspecting women but, White said, "I think he felt it was pretty normal for a man to be interested in looking at naked women."

He was adamant, however, that what he was doing didn't amount to "crossing the line into assaulting a woman," White said.

His father told the Antelope Valley Press on Wednesday that his son "felt in his mind that he has been screwed all this time." He added, "Jeremy said, 'I'm never going back to jail, not even for a day.' "

Move to Berkeley

After serving his time, Goulet moved to Berkeley, where he lived with his twin brother at an apartment on Benvenue Avenue. He worked for about six months at Cole Coffee in Oakland and, though he was fired in August, the shop's co-owner said, "we really didn't have any troubles with him."

"He was a perfectly fine worker, on time, good with the customers," said Desiree Murphy, who said the firing was not related to sexual misconduct. "We were really shocked by the news of what happened in Santa Cruz."

However, Goulet had not abandoned his peeping ways. Berkeley police arrested him Aug. 6, records show, after a witness saw him peeking into a window on the 1900 block of Haste Street. Two weeks later he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor prowling and was sentenced to three years of probation.

A couple who lived in the apartment below Goulet and his brother, Andrew and Alicia Morrison, said he was so "creepy" that they looked him up online and discovered the Oregon peeping case.

Screaming fights

Alicia Morrison, 22, said she and her husband had to call police once after hearing sounds that suggested Goulet and his brother were arguing and "slamming each other on the ground." A couple of days later, the neighbors heard a woman screaming from the apartment, and police were called again.

Officer Jennifer Coats, a Berkeley police spokeswoman, said she could not discuss the incidents, referring questions to Santa Cruz authorities.

By November, Goulet had moved to Santa Cruz, where he got a job as a barista at the Kind Grind cafe on the waterfront. Employees there declined to talk about Goulet, but Paul Ruiz, a 69-year-old regular customer, said he was "real quiet and wouldn't say much. He didn't look people in the eye much."

On his Facebook page, Goulet spoke of having attended the Burning Man event in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada and of his plans to return to the weeklong performance art festival.

On Nov. 3, he wrote he was "loving the beach" and "wondering why I haven't been here all along." He said he was "looking forward to my new life, of course remembering my old."